Spanish words ending in -MENTE

Welcome 😊 to our grammar lesson on Spanish words that end in -mente.

Adverbs ending in -mente (such as “normalmente” or “simplemente”) are the equivalent of English words ending in “-ly”: usually, simply, etc.

Two sentences with Spanish adverbs ending in "-mente"
Two sentences with adverbs ending in “-mente”

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to take any adjective and transform it into an adverb ending in -mente.

You will also find a Quiz and an Exercise to practice.

How to form adverbs ending in “-mente”

In order to form these adverbs, we follow 3 steps:

  1. Think of any adjective
  2. Take the feminine form of that adjective
  3. Add -mente to that feminine form

Let’s pick a few adjectives and transform them into -mente adverbs, following the steps we just learned:

1. Think of any adjective

I just thought of these four adjectives! 😊

  • desgraciado = unfortunate
  • intenso = intense
  • fácil = easy
  • alegre = happy


2. Take the feminine form of that adjective

Out of the four adjectives I thought, the first two have a feminine form that is different from the masculine.

For the other two, the feminine form is the same as the masculine.

AdjectiveFeminine form
desgraciadodesgraciada
intensointensa
fácilfácil
alegrealegre


3. Add “-mente” to that feminine form

This is the final step. Let’s complete our table and see the results:

AdjectiveFeminine formAdverb ending in "-mente"
desgraciadodesgraciadadesgraciadamente
intensointensaintensamente
fácilfácilfácilmente
alegrealegrealegremente


We have followed the steps successfully, and obtained four adverbs ending in -mente:

  • desgraciadamente = unfortunately
  • intensamente = intensely
  • fácilmente = easily
  • alegremente = happily


Note: about accent marks

An adverb with “mente” has an accent mark if and only if the original adjective had it too, and it stays on the same vowel.

For example, out of the four adverbs we have formed, only “fácilmente” has an accent mark, because “fácil” had it too.

Example sentences

Finally, here are some sentences with the “-mente” adverbs we just formed:

Desgraciadamente, no tengo tiempo para viajar.
Unfortunately, I don’t have time to travel.

Ella trabaja intensamente.
She works intensely.

Paula resuelve fácilmente los problemas.
Paula solves the problems easily.

Los niños cantan alegremente.
The children sing happily.

List of common “-mente” adverbs

Here’s a list of common -mente adverbs, and the adjectives they come from:

AdjectiveAdverb ending in "-mente"Meaning
absolutoabsolutamenteabsolutely
afortunadoafortunadamenteluckily
brevebrevementebriefly
casualcasualmentecasually, incidentally
claroclaramenteclearly
completocompletamentecompletely
especialespecialmentespecially
finalfinalmentefinally
honestohonestamentehonestly
lentolentamenteslowly
ligeroligeramenteslightly
necesarionecesariamentenecessarily
normalnormalmentenormally, usually
principalprincipalmentemainly
rápidorápidamentequickly
simplesimplementesimply
sincerosinceramentesincerely
totaltotalmentetotally
tristetristementesadly
tranquilotranquilamentecalmly
últimoúltimamentelately
pacientepacientementepatiently

Practice

Quiz

Take this short Quiz about words ending in -mente:


Exercise 1

Fill the gaps using -mente adverbs created from the adjectives in brackets. Click on the gray spaces to see the solutions:

1) Tenemos que hacer las cosas correctamente . (correcto)
We have to do things correctly.

2) Ella es simplemente genial. (simple)
She’s simply great.

3) El anillo me parece excesivamente caro. (excesivo)
The ring seems excessively expensive to me.

Exercise 2

More sentences!:

4) Antonio es un profesional tremendamente eficaz. (tremendo)
Antonio is a tremendously effective professional.

5) El tema está perfectamente claro. (perfecto)
The issue is perfectly clear.

6) Nosotros vamos al cine frecuentemente . (frecuente).
We go to the movies frequently.